The FAA is limiting flights at big airports. But passengers at small airports will feel the most pain

Miami International Airport is one of the 40 airports where the Federal Aviation Administration is limiting flights due to air traffic controller shortages exacerbated by the federal government shutdown. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images/FILE

The federal government is ordering flight cuts at 40 major airports because of the shutdown – but it’s flyers in places like Pensacola, Florida; Moline, Illinois; Waco, Texas; and Shreveport, Louisiana who will have it the hardest.

That’s because small feeder flights are largely the ones getting canceled, not the flights between major cities.

Canceling flights at the smaller airports can cause significant problems for those who depend on them , but it limits the disruption for the system overall. That allows the airlines to